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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Stoggler" data-source="post: 1791994" data-attributes="member: 75203">It's not a part of nature though.  The circumstances of humans putting feeders out for birds is very artificial and is not how birds feed naturally.  The difference with humans feeding birds with feeders, as pointed out, is that the food and feeders are in the same place all the time and is not a "natural" way that birds would feed.  As Mary points out, birds would move on rather than stay in the same place.  Also, the concentrations of birds around feeders is a very significant factor.  Just as large concentrations of humans creates health problems and allows for the rapid transition of disease, large concentrations of birds creates health problems and the easy transition of diseases to large numbers of birds: having feeders in your garden that are not clean is the avian equivalent to a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1854_Broad_Street_cholera_outbreak" target="_blank">cholera-infected water supply in Victorian London</a>It's for this reason that we must keep our feeders clean and make sure we are not attracting birds to their potential death!</blockquote>